Chapter 7: The Farewell Concert: part one-American Dreamers
The ambulance pulled into the lot once the excitedness ended. You could see people walking from every corner; wearing their special band t-shirts with fire red sweatpants. American Dreamer had way more fans than ‘Danomic Memories’ ever had, but that was because they were playing a lot longer than Dane’s band. The doors to greet the fans inside of the stadium, wearing their farewell T-shirts, crowded out Another Lost Memory and tons of face paint running down their cheeks. The fans were running around screaming excitedly seeing Another Lost Memory live for the farewell concert. The fans were yelling so loud, Dane could not even hear himself think, even being in the ambulance did not even help him any. Danielle was sitting in the ambulance with her arms wrapped around him, trying to keep from screaming too loudly, or screaming at all at that.
Dane reached for the door and pushed it open with tons of fans standing there by the door. It amazed Dane to see his band standing there by the door knowing that he was there in the ambulance really surprised him to the maximum. His fans were there standing next to the band, giving best wishes for Dane and Danielle on full recovery. Dane just slipped down out of the ambulance to greet his fans, with them wondering what he was doing at the concert, since they have not seen him in years. The band members reached in and hugged Dane, still shocked about seeing him there and alive. Another American Dream of course, was still standing by the doors wondering what was going on over by where Dane is. Another American Dream started walking over to the ambulance when they noticed that Dane Gallagos and the band were standing there celebrating the battle of the bands about two months earlier.
Gene looked at Dane a little confused. “What are you guys doing here anyway? I thought you ere in a coma.” Dane just stared at him and replied.
“You did not think I was going to make it, only because I was out for five years, people told me. But I got news for you all; I am back and better than ever. I got my life straightened out, so I will be back playing in a couple days. Remember, my bands playing for all of you Thursday, and this band will be like no other. I will be playing that guitar, but I will also be playing the drums at the same time and with my head. So do not miss it, because if you do, I will find you.” he said pointing to all of them. They all knew that the final thing he said was just a joke, so they just laughed. Dane too broke out in laughter over his own phrase.
“Are we just going to sit here and chit chat or are we going to go and get this band started?” Gene said as Dane looked at him confusingly.
“We? Don’t you mean you?”
“No. I mean us. You, me, and our bands playing a song together for the first and final time. What do you think?” Danielle slapped Dane on the back.
“Come on. You know you want to play with your idols tonight, so just go out there and play a couple songs with them and I will take you back home. Your mom is still waiting to speak with you. Did you know that she was bawling her eyes out when she saw you awaken? She was so happy.” Danielle said, looking over to Gene and the rest of his band. “So are you in, Dane?”
“Of course I am in. Why wouldn’t I? They are only the single most popular band in all of the rock and roll genre. But what song will we do?” Dane asked confusedly.
Gene slapped him on the back and reply. “What is your favorite song of all time?”
Dane just gently slapped him back on the back and replied. “Well. It has got to be The Never Ending Story of Detroit . And since we are in Detroit, I guess it will be the better song to play together. I have practiced it for a long time, hoping to be able to be in a band like yours. And that is the reason I came here tonight, to see you guys play, but I guess my dream came true and then some.”
“Yeah. I guess we are in Detroit, and you know the lyrics and the guitar motions. We can do The Never Ending Story of Detroit for all the fans out there, both yours and mine. But you better get ready before the band starts. Your fans will be shocked to see you out there tonight, playing again. What do you guys think?” Gene Simmons said referring to the band. They did not exactly have an answer for him. The whole band just shrugged their shoulders and grinned. Danielle on the other hand, threw her arm over Dane’s shoulder.
“Good luck out there. I will be rooting for you in the front row.” Danielle said looking to Gene and the band once again. “And for you guys. Good luck out there, and do not fall off the stage like my clumsy boyfriend did. If you do, nobody will be there to catch you. See you all of you guys later.” Danielle finally finished, turning around and walking his way down the sidewalk to the enterance to the stadium. Dane just smiled excitedly knowing that he would be able to play with his idols Another American Dream and American Dreamers that night. He will be playing twice on the same day, once to Highway To Hell and once to Another Detroit Memory. This was definitely his special day.
Dane turned his head to Gene and signaled that they should be walking down to the stadium and get ready for the gig because it was only thirty minutes away. Dane knowing that Gene had more fans coming to see him, just turned around and walk his way past the cars surprisingly missing them all, since he was a little groggy from the awakening from his deep sleep. Everyone just watched him as he watched by, jumping out of their cars to follow him. He was not very much amazed that they were there to see him, since he was the best rookie band out there. Dane looked at his fans as he walked by, trying to ignore them since it was almost time for his gig. He only had ten minutes to prepare, since he was on with American Dreamers in fifteen, and in that five minutes he had to get his guitar ready and get up to the stage before the concert started. While he was going down the hallway he was thinking about Danielle, and how she sent him some good luck along the way to recovery. Dane was halfway down the hallway when more fans came out of the blackness of the room next to the pop machine where he was headed next. Still, he ignored them still trying to stay focused on the big concert, and how he could become a legend in rock and roll history. He stopped by the pop machine, and saw a keypad, where he could type in the special band code of American Dreamers. They gave him the code a while earlier over the phone, while he was getting ready to walk in. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a tiny piece of paper with the code written on it. It had the first three songs on the Lost In London CD, which did not come to any surprise for Dane.
Dane looked down at the keypad and typed them all in. You would not see that sort of thing at all concerts, but this one was a real showdown between the two biggest bands in history. Looking to the pop machine buttons, he brought his fist to the mountain dew button and punched it hard, but not hard enough to break the machine. When the pop was coming down, Dane was surprised at what happened in that machine. When he leaned down and opened the slit, there were five mountain dew bottles laying there waiting to be picked up. It is the real deal to be a legend, since I can get unlimited pop anywhere you go. But if you are not a legend, but you are still a well known band, you get money for pop when you walk in. Luckily for Dane though, he was a friend of the legends so he got the code and the free perks.
Dane turned around just once more to see the enterance door to the stage, but he was not ready to go up there yet. Since he got five mountain dews, I guess he had to share them with somebody. Or, he could drink them all by himself, but this man was not anything close to greedy. He turned back around and saw an enterance to the crowd. When he was walking down the hallway to the door, he just remembered that if he was not careful, the fans would take him down with autographs and stuff like that. He was trying to be quiet, and he opened the door and got on his hands and knees and went through the crowd down by their feet to get to Danielle. “Danielle,” he whispered to her handing up a mountain dew. He then turned around and started crawling back through the crowd, and under the table to the door where he could get out. Dane popped up to his feet and went back out of the door with relief. Starting to walk to the stage, he noticed that the band was all ready and he was not. He walked straight through the door and walked up the steps with his guitar hurrying to get ready. Grabbing his amplifier, he plugged it into the guitar and tuned it a little bit before he was ready.
The members turned to him. “Where were you?” One of them asked suspiciously. “Get attacked by fans on your way here?
“Yeah. They were trampling me and begging me to sign their CD’s and everything. It took me a while to get away from them so I could get up here in times. Those fans were trampling me and everything. I see what it is like to be famous, but this never happened out there in Lakeville.” Dane said holding his guitar in place ready to start up the band. But American Dreamers still continued to talk for the next couple minutes.
“I still can’t believe that this is the last time we are going to be playing together. It has been fun playing with all of you these past thirty to forty years, but I guess it is time to take a rest in this legend in the making.” Dane just looked to them and felt a tear fall. His favorite bands are going to be retiring and he just can not give that up.
“It will be great to play with you guys for the first and I guess final time before your retirement. It has been great to hang with you guys today, and to still be alive to be in the farewell concert with all of you. I hope you feel the same.” Dane said hugging them. “But anyway, are you guys ready to perform? Lets make this concert count double what the others did, since you got the best rookie guitarist in the whole USA.”
“Yeah guys. It has been a great long ride with you guys and I wish that we could come back and play with each other in the future. Being the lead singer of this band it really hurts me to say goodbye to you all. It has been hard to come here tonight and play in front of all of these people here that came to see us here tonight, and it is an honor for us to see that we have a new member in our show tonight. Good luck in the future.” They finally finished up as the curtain raised and the show was on.
